Whole food lunch boxes on a budget – The Countdown Challenge

This week I was challenged by Countdown to pack 10 lunch boxes for $50. Being a kid foodie this is completely up my alley, 10 lunch boxes for $50 I thought… I can do way better than that.

Let me show you how I made 10 real food kids lunch boxes for under $30.

How to make a healthy whole food lunch boxes on a budget

1.Stick with staples

I often hear how expensive items are at the supermarket. And I agree, there are some really expensive items at the supermarket, but there are also some things that are really cheap. One of my favourite staples is rolled oats. We have them for breakfast, but it doesn’t stop there. I use rolled oats in a tonne of items I make and bake for the kiddos lunch boxes. Seriously the Homebrand rolled oats are $2 for 750g at Countdown. Thats, not a special price. That is a price lock down. Which means low prices every day those rolled oats aren’t going to change in price for the long term

Some of my favourite price lock down staples

Homebrand rolled oats

Edmonds whole egg mayo

Fresh life sultanas

Essentials plain flour

Peckish brown rice crackers

2. Ditch the packaged foods

I am not a packaged foods nazi, not by any means. We still have packaged foods in our house. But I do know that they can be much more expensive then making things from scratch. Clearly as a mum of 3 little ones I’m not going to be making everything from scratch. I just don’t have the time, But I do try to when I can, and it does save money.

3. Buy in season

Where you can buy your fresh fruit and veggies in season. It will be much cheaper that way. My boxes had apples, pears, mandarins all of which were on “Hot Deal” special at my local Countdown.

I must confess that a couple of the items I made for these boxes were not cheap. The recent storm has meant Cauliflower, Avocado and Zucchini were pretty pricey, but because I shopped smartly for everything else, even with these expensive items I was well under budget!

4. Shop Specials

Countdown Price Lockdowns means that prices are low every day, they are fixed for 12 months. Countdown also runs other short term specials though, hot deals, fresh deals all of which can be great. And the club card specials can also be awesome!

10 Whole food Lunch boxes for under $30

I have 2 kids that I pack lunches for. So I have 5 lunch box ideas, that I made 2 of, which is how I got 10 lunch boxes. My kiddos, that I pack lunch boxes for, are 3 and 4yrs old.

The Quick Lunchbox Vid- With NZ Giveaway

If you are a New Zealand Resident, be sure to check out the vid below, and comment with your favourite box, it could mean a $50 Countdown Voucher would be heading your way.

Box 3

Zucchini slice. This is a huge favourite with my kids, it has been since they were little and I love it, as you can freeze it! You can use the recipe as a base and substitute other veggies.

Pita crisps, to make the pita crisps, I just cut up my slightly stale pita breads, popped then on a baking tray and sprayed with olive oil. I baked them at 180 degrees for around 10mins, which turned my slightly stale pita breads into great crunchy dippers for the hummus

Box 4

This box came in at $3.03

This lunchbox is a goodbyn bynto

It could have come in even cheaper if the avocados were a little more in season.

Oh my goodness! This is the first time I have seen healthy lunch box ideas I can actually make! So often they are crazy expensive for grass fed, organic, almond infused goodness. Thank you so much for putting this together, I am going to try lots of these ideas for my kids.